Pump with unitary valve member

ABSTRACT

A pump for dispensing a product from a retail package is molded of plastic. The reciprocable member includes a piston having a flexible skirt. The inlet and outlet valves are resiliently deflectable margins on either end of a unitary valve member. The vent passage and the outlet passage are closed when the pump is at rest.

United States Patent [19] Stevens PUMP WITH UNITARY VALVE MEMBER Silvester William Stevens, MacQuarie Fields, N.S.W., Australia Inventor:

Precision Valve Corporation, Yonkers, NY.

Filed: May 28, 1974 Appl. No.: 473,801

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data June 26, 1973 Australia 57357/73 US. Cl. 222/321; 417/560; 417/566 Int. Cl. G011 11/30 Field of Search 222/321, 320, 383, 380; 417/566, 560

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1966 Roder 222/321 [451 Apr. 15, 1975 3,527,551 9/1970 Kutik et a1. 417/560 Primary ExaminerRobert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Hadd Lane Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Davis, Hoxie, Faithfull & Hapgood 12 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PUMP WITH UNITARY VALVEMEMBE The present invention is a simple economical pump for use with a product container to dispense a product as a spray, stream or ribbon. Such household products as window cleaners, furniture polish, insecticides, detergents, hand lotions, dental and hair care products, perfumes, foods, medicaments, etc. have long been sold in containers which include a dispensing pump.

The present invention provides a simple economical pump having few parts which are easily molded of plastie and require minimal assembly procedures. Relatively expensive metal balls which are used as valve elements in many of the prior art pumps are eliminated and the entire pump, except for the return spring, is inexpensively molded of plastic. In the rest position both the air vent and the product discharge passage are closed to prevent unwanted leakage of the product. The valve action assures that the product to be dispensed on a particular actuation stroke is under pressure before and after the dispensing cycle to provide abrupt starting and stopping of the spray to promote uniform spray characteristics from beginning to end of each actuation stroke of the pump and to reduce or eliminate sputtering or dribbling.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive reliable pump suitable for dispensing household products. In the drawings FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a pump according to the present invention in the rest position,

FIG. 2 shows the pump of FIG. 1 during the actuation stroke,

FIG. 3 shows the pump of FIG. 1 during the return stroke, and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of another embodiment of the pump of the present invention.

A pump according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 3 in the rest, actuation stroke and return stroke conditions respectively. The pump of FIGS. l-3 has a housing with a cylindrical interior and has an inlet passage extending through a nipple 12 on the bottom of the housing. An eduction or dip tube 16 can he slipped over the nipple 12 to reach to the bottom of the container. A vent port 17 is provided in the upper portion of the cylindrical wall of the housing. A cap 20 having internal threads 26 and a central aperture 28 is employed to affix the pump to the mouth of a product container such as a bottle having cap receiving threads. The upper end of the housing 10 is provided with a radial flange 14 to overlie and be clamped against the container lip when the cap 24 is screwed down tight. Flange 14 serves as a cap gasket.

The reciprocable member 30 of the pump comprises an upstanding hollow stem 32 for frictionally receiving an actuator button shown for convenience only in FIG. 2. The button 60 includes passage 62 to communicate the bore 38 of the stem with a discharge orifice 64 in a nozzle insert 65. The lower end of the reciprocating member is in the form of an inverted cup piston 35 having an annular flared resilient skirt 34 for sliding sealed engagement with the cylindrical interior of the housing 10. The upper end of a compression spring is received in an annular recess 36 on the interior face of the piston 35.

The inlet and outlet valve elements are formed on either end of a unitary valve member 50. The inlet valve 52 is in the form ofa disc having a downwardly sloping,

resiliently deflectable annular flange or margin 53 biased into sealing engagement with the interior surface of the bottom wall of the housing to close off the inlet passage 15 in the dip tube nip'ple 12. The outlet valve 54 is in the general shape of an inverted cone having an upwardly sloping resiliently deflectable flange or margin 55 resiliently biased into sealing engagement with the bore 38 of the hollow valve stem 32 of the reciprocable member 30. The inlet valve 52 and the outlet valve 54 are integrally connected by a rod portion 56 to constitute the unitary valve member 50. The lower end of the compression spring 40 is seated on the central disc portion of the inlet valve element 52 and serves to fix valve member 50 in position. The central disc portion of inlet valve 52 is seated on a plurality of circumferentially spaced raised ribs or projections 18 formed on the interior surface of the bottom wall of the housing 10 surrounding the inlet passage 15. The sloping resilient margin 53 of valve 52 extends radially beyond projections 18 to sealingly engage the bottom wall.

Valve member 50 is preferably molded of a resilient plastic such as polypropylene although other resilient plastics such as nylon, polyethylene, ABS and the like or elastomers can be used. The housing 10, reciprocable member 30 and cap 20 can be made from a wide variety of plastics although nylon orpolypropylene are presently preferred. The return spring 40 is preferably of stainless steel.

The pump above described is to be installed on a product container such as a threaded neck bottle with the dip tube 16 extending to the bottom of the container for complete product eduction. The user depresses the actuator button to drive the reciprocable member 30 downwardly to begin the actuation-stroke. The skirt 34 of the piston slides in the cylindrical cavity of the housing 10 to compress or pressurize product within the housing cavity. When the pressure on the product becomes sufficient, the deflectable margin 55 of the outlet valve 54 yields to allow product to pass the valve and ascend the bore 38 of the hollow stem to flow under pressure to the discharge orifice of the actuator button. Depending upon the nature of the product and of the discharge orifice, the product is dispensed as a spray, stream or ribbon. As the actuation stroke continues as is shown in FIG. 2, the skirt 34 clears housing vent port 17 thereby establishing an open path between the interior of the product container and the atmosphere through the clearance about stem 30 in cap aperture 28. Pressure on the product in the housing 10 further forces closed the seal of the margin 53 of the inlet valve. Upon removal of downward force, the reciprocable member 30 returns upwardly toward the rest position of FIG. 1 under the influence of the return bias force provided by return spring 40. The retreat of the reciprocable member 30 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The retreat causes a reduction in pressure in the cylindrical cavity of the housing 10 to below atmospheric. The greater pressure on the product in the container forces product to ascend the dip tube 16 and to deflect the margin 53 of the inlet valve 52 to replenish product in the cylindrical cavity of the housing. Product is sucked into the cavity as the member 30 retreats until skirt 34 of the piston of the member 30 clears the vent port 17 thereby breaking the suction. During the return stroke the margin 55 of the outlet valve 54 sealingly engages the bore 38 of the hollow stem 32. The resilience of the plastic of the valve 54 and the lower than atmospheric pressure below the outlet valve cause the outlet valve 54 to close off the outlet passage. Upon completion of the return stroke to the rest position of FIG. 1 the resilience of the plastic of the inlet valve 52 causes its margin 53 to again seal against the bottom of the housing 10.

The sequence of valve operation just described assures that no product is dispensed until sufficient pressure is built up in the housing to provide an abrupt start to the dispensing. Similarly, outlet valve 54 abruptly closes at the end of the actuation stroke to provide a definite end to the dispensing. Thus, dispensing only occurs during the period when the product to be dispensed in the housing is under adequate pressure to provide proper spray or other discharge characteristics. This reduces or eliminates sputtering or dribbling. The upper surface of the piston 35 comes to rest blocking the clearance in cap aperture 28 about the stem 32 to prevent leakage of product through the vent passages.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 is a pump identical in operative structure and mode of operation to that of FIGS. 1-3, but with a different manner of attachment to the product container. The embodiment of FIG. 4 has no separate cap such as cap of FIGS. 1-3. The mounting functions of the cap are incorporated in the molding for the housing a by forming it with an integral collar a depending from flange l4 and having threads 26a molded on its interior for mounting on the container. Other mounting modifications are within the scope of the invention. The mounting means can be in the form of a snap bead, friction fit, solvent or heat weld or other known means for permanently or removably affixing closures to containers. FIG. 4 also illustrates an actuator button 60a modified to fit within the housing 10a as well as on the stem 32. A lip 67 on the button interferes with a similar lip 68 on the housing 100 to discourage removal of the button from the stem and to act as a stop for upward travel.

The just described pump is intended to be included in the retail package for some household product. Because the inlet and outlet valves as well as the vent passage are closed when the pump is at rest position the pump can be placed on the container by the product packager without fear of leakage of product during shipment and storage. An overcap can be installed over the pump actuator button to prevent accidental actuation and to discourage trials by shoppers. To be acceptable to the packager, such a pump must be sufficiently inexpensive to be includable in the retail price of the product while remaining competitive with others products, must be a pump adequate to the purpose to please the customers, and must not leak in shipment and storage. The present pump fulfills these requirements.

What is claimed is:

1. A dispensing pump construction for mounting on a container comprising:

a housing having side and bottom walls defining a cylindrical interior chamber, and an inlet passage extending through the bottom wall of the housing,

means to mount the pump in the mouth aperture of a container, a reciprocable member movable from a rest position through actuation and return strokes, said recipro- 5 cable member having a piston portion circumscribed by a resilient skirt for sliding sealed engagement with the cylindrical interior wall of the housing, a hollow stem portion coaxial with the piston portion, and an axial cylindrical outlet passage extending through the piston and stem portions,

a unitary valve member having at its lower end an inlet valve and at its upper end an outlet valve, said inlet valve having a downwardly sloping resiliently deflectable margin biased toward sealing engagement with the interior surface of the bottom wall of the housing radially outwardly of said inlet passage,

said outlet valve having an upwardly sloping resiliently deflectable margin biased toward sliding sealed engagement with the cylindrical wall of the outlet passage of the reciprocable member, and

a return spring for biasing the reciprocable member upwardly toward the rest position of the pump.

2. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the hollow stem of the reciprocable member extends exteriorly of the container through an aperture with clearance, and the housing includes a vent port through the cylindrical wall to communicate the interior of the container with the atmosphere through said vent port and said clearance.

3. The dispensing pump of claim 2 wherein said piston portion blocks said clearance when the pump is in the rest position.

4. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the means to mount the pump on the container is a collar integral with the housing.

5. The dispensing pump of claim 2 wherein the means to mount the pump on the container is a cap having an aperture through which the hollow stem extends with clearance.

6. The dispensing pump of claim 4 wherein the collar is internally threaded.

7. The dispensing pump of claim 5 wherein the cap is internally threaded.

8. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the valve member is an integral piece.

9. The pump of claim 8 wherein the outlet valve is in the form of an inverted cone having deflectable walls.

10. The pump of claim 8 wherein the inlet valve is in the form of a disc surrounded by a downwardly sloping resiliently deflectable annular margin.

11. The pump of claim 10 wherein the bottom wall of the housing includes circumferentially spaced projections upon which the disc portion of the inlet valve sits.

12. The pump of claim 11 wherein the return spring is a compression spring interposed between the lower surface of said piston portion and the upper surface of said disc portion of the inlet valve. l =l 

1. A dispensing pump construction for mounting on a container comprising: a housing having side and bottom walls defining a cylindrical interior chamber, and an inlet passage extending through the bottom wall of the housing, means to mount the pump in the mouth aperture of a container, a reciprocable member movable from a rest position through actuation and return strokes, said reciprocable member having a piston portion circumscribed by a resilient skirt for sliding sealed engagement with the cylindrical interior wall of the housing, a hollow stem portion coaxial with the piston portion, and an axial cylindrical outlet passage extending through the piston and stem portions, a unitary valve member having at its lower end an inlet valve and at its upper end an outlet valve, said inlet valve having a downwardly sloping resiliently deflectable margin biased toward sealing engagement with the interior surface of the bottom wall of the housing radially outwardly of said inlet passage, said outlet valve having an upwardly sloping resiliently deflectable margin biased toward sliding sealed engagement with the cylindrical wall of the outlet passage of the reciprocable member, and a return spring for biasing the reciprocable member upwardly toward the rest position of The pump.
 2. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the hollow stem of the reciprocable member extends exteriorly of the container through an aperture with clearance, and the housing includes a vent port through the cylindrical wall to communicate the interior of the container with the atmosphere through said vent port and said clearance.
 3. The dispensing pump of claim 2 wherein said piston portion blocks said clearance when the pump is in the rest position.
 4. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the means to mount the pump on the container is a collar integral with the housing.
 5. The dispensing pump of claim 2 wherein the means to mount the pump on the container is a cap having an aperture through which the hollow stem extends with clearance.
 6. The dispensing pump of claim 4 wherein the collar is internally threaded.
 7. The dispensing pump of claim 5 wherein the cap is internally threaded.
 8. The dispensing pump of claim 1 wherein the valve member is an integral piece.
 9. The pump of claim 8 wherein the outlet valve is in the form of an inverted cone having deflectable walls.
 10. The pump of claim 8 wherein the inlet valve is in the form of a disc surrounded by a downwardly sloping resiliently deflectable annular margin.
 11. The pump of claim 10 wherein the bottom wall of the housing includes circumferentially spaced projections upon which the disc portion of the inlet valve sits.
 12. The pump of claim 11 wherein the return spring is a compression spring interposed between the lower surface of said piston portion and the upper surface of said disc portion of the inlet valve. 